Art History
by ctj
Summary: "The floor tiles, then," the Gerudo king continued. "Tell me about them." Zelda bit her lip. Smirked. She liked a good challenge.


**I've always enjoyed dwelling on the relationship between OoT Ganondorf and Zelda as it might have existed in the years preceding his betrayal. Before the princess began suspecting him of treachery, they were probably both spending a lot of time reading and studying theology (as they are both so well-versed in the topic). I imagine that they were often at odds with one another in an ongoing contest of wit.**

* * *

><p>She was a princess, young and sweet and on the verge of womanhood. So, too, was she kind of girl who often got her nose stuck in many a book and had trouble pulling it back out.<p>

In contrast, he was king and ambassador of a desert far over the hills, and he seemed to carry the harshness of the wastelands with him no matter where he went. He dressed gallantly, but beyond that he was no gentleman. He was sharp of mind and sharper of tongue, and she seemed to like that about him.

An evening found them together in the castle library, where the girl had collapsed into an armchair with half a dozen books in her arms. It was a colossal and devastatingly beautiful room, with marble pillars and archways that made every whisper, every turned page, every footstep echo for ages.

"Do you know the architecture of this chamber well, Your Highness?" King Ganondorf asked that evening, and the princess peered up over the edge of her book.

"Naturally."

"How well?"

"Better than most."

"The floor tiles, then," the king continued. "Tell me about them."

Zelda bit her lip. Smirked. She liked a good challenge. "Gerudo, aren't they?" she supplied. "The art of your people."

Ganondorf raised an eyebrow. "Impressive."

The princess smiled coyly. "I try." Dropping the books, she rose to her feet, the click of her heels ricocheting across the chamber. She spun in place to observe the tiles better, and her skirts swirled about her calves in a whirlpool of satin.

"It really is most beautiful. If I were somebody else, I'd feel guilty treading over it."

"But you _are _yourself, Highness."

"I certainly am, and I know myself to be rational; there is no guilt to be had in using a floor for its intended purpose, Gerudo King."

A tilt of the chin from the Gerudo lord. "Have you studied art extensively?"

"Only as much as my tutors made me," the princess admitted. "I haven't much of an eye for it; I prefer writing, really."

"For some reason, that does not surprise me."

"Because I am so intelligent?" the princess joked.

"Because you are so _talkative_._"_

"But I _am _intelligent."

"Are you?"

"Test me."

The king laughed dryly. "Very well, then." He considered what he would ask her next. When he had found it, he proceeded. "Returning to the subject of the floor, Your Highness... I bet you would recognize these tiles as Gerudo craft, but you would not know that they were created during the Gerudo Golden Age under the rule of Naberu IV. Nor would you know that they are constructed to resemble a Hylian Lily-"

"-I knew that!"

"Silence, Highness, and let me finish; the tiles are constructed to resemble a Hylian Lily in _half bloom_... a powerful statement suggesting that the relationship between the Gerudo and the people of Hyrule was... tense, at best."

"Wasn't it always?"

"No. Far from it." The king smiled faintly, as if recalling a pleasant memory. "There were many ambassadors such as myself that traveled between the kingdoms and kept the peace. Back before the civil war that destroyed the harmony between our lands; before the desert was a place of death; back when it was brimming with life and with culture, when sun and sand was our goddess, not a punishment... yes... our lands lived in peace for a time. A _long_ time."

"But the tension between our kingdoms... that is what I was taught. I read it in books." Zelda paused, considering her own words. "Unless..."

"Books lie, for all their beauty." The king gestured broadly around the domed chamber, and the books seemed to shiver on their shelves. "Elegant writing and gilded manuscripts... they do not promise substance, I'm afraid."

"Much like a pretty face," Zelda jested, and Ganondorf gave her an odd look.

"And yet," he murmured, "you have surprised me again and again."

* * *

><p><strong>A snippet I dreamed up awhile ago and finally jotted down.<strong>

**Hope you enjoyed!**

**Ctj.**


End file.
